Wedbush starts Eikon at Underperform on ‘significant clinical risk’

Wedbush initiated coverage of Eikon Therapeutics (EIKN) with an Underperform rating and $7 price target Eikon is developing a pipeline of therapies for the treatment of cancer using its technology platform, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says the company’s lead program EIK100 is a systemically-administered TLR7/8 agonist, a class of agents that have failed to gain significant traction in cancer immunotherapy due to a lack of efficacy and narrow therapeutic window. In addition, Eikon is developing PARP1-selective inhibitors EIK1003 and EIK1004 that are “undifferentiated in a crowded field,’ contends Wedbush. It believes the company has “expensive clinical programs with significant clinical risk.”